CloudPassage Halo Enterprise Uses Botnet to Secure Cloud

CloudPassage is turning the tables on the black hats by using their own technologies against them. The cloud infrastructure security provider has released Halo Enterprise, a security-as-a-service solution to uses botnet technology to protect sensitive corporate data.

Carson Sweet has a reason to be a little smug, and it's a feeling his customers are taking to, as well. The company Sweet leads as CEO, CloudPassage, is turning the tables on the nogoodniks out there by using their technologies against them. With CloudPassage Halo Enterprise, the infrastructure security provider has built a botnet-like form of security to protect critical corporate information in the cloud.

Sweet told Talkin' Cloud that when he and his team discuss the way Halo Enterprise functions with IT managers, there's this moment when the IT managers "get it" and realize what CloudPassage has done. Sweet and his team get just a little smug. And who can blame them, really?

"Instead of using it to do things like attack servers and steal data, we're not actually using a botnet, but botnet-like architecture to securely command and control these systems," Sweet said.

Halo Enterprise was designed to extend cloud infrastructure security to the large enterprise realm, and according to Sweet, the easiest way to do that was to essentially build a botnet-based infrastructure. Of course, it's not really a botnet—the infrastructure simply takes its cue from the botnet world and, like a botnet, is hard to kill, extremely distributed and controlled by a centralized command and control unit.

The Halo lightweight agents establish real-time streams of security data between cloud instances and the Halo Grid, CloudPassage's cloud security engine that continuously monitors and evaluates cloud security and compliance data points. Basically, CloudPassage has moved security analytics into the cloud to automate defense with almost zero impact on the protected cloud infrastructure, according to the company.

The end goal? Enabling accleration of cloud adoption. Within the enterprise space, Sweet noted there is still some hesitation in moving to the cloud because of unknown security risks, but Halo Enterprise was designed to help alleivate those concerns.

"We want to enable companies to say 'yes' to cloud. They all want to use it but they're afraid of it," Sweet said.

The channel opportunities with CloudPassage are currently slim, as the company is currently mainly focused on direct sales to its end customers. However, CloudPassage does work with a small number of cloud services providers who are not only using but also reselling the company's security solutions.

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